Brewers Q&A: Dom Flynn, Navigation Brewery

Nottingham has a beer scene that other cities would envy. Over the last few years especially, Nottingham-based breweries and beer continue to grow and, in celebration of Nottingham's thriving beer culture, we've decided to have a quick chat to some of the brewers that make this city's beer so great. Next up: Dom Flynn, Brewer at Navigation Brewery...

Name one beer you’ve made that everyone should try...Our fastest growing cask brand is Rebel and it just got voted the best golden beer in Nottingham by CAMRA. It seems to be loved everywhere we put it. In keg, I personally like the Hazy Pale with West coast hops and at 4.5%, it’s a refreshing session drink.

Are there any styles of beer you wish to brew in the future?Right now, we’re working on a strawberry lactose beer. I’m also looking forward to brewing more dark beers and maybe an American red. We’re currently trialing wood aged beers that will be available for Nottingham Craft Beer Week.

Is there a personal favourite of the seasonal beers that you brew?I would have to go with the Belgian Blonde. It’s been voted the best speciality light cask beer in the Midlands by Siba and the second best Midlands cask beer overall. It’s got all the banana flavour you would expect from a Belgian beer and it’s fantastic with any fish dish.

What’s the benefit to doing everything onsite at the brewery?We have control all of our beer. It’s not particularly crafty, but we are SALSA accredited. We do all the lab work, yeast counts, yeast control, acid washing and CO2 analysis. All of these things ultimately give a consistent produce that we can confidently say has been tasted all the way through the system and passed by a trained tasting panel.navigationbrewery.com